• 
• 

Published on February 26, 2008

Wisudhi Srisuphan, director-general of the department, said that this year the plan is to turn the whole customs process into an electronic system. The main applications of electronic export and import systems as well as sub-system applications such as tax refunds, warehouse management and investigation systems would all be upgraded.

Around 70 per cent of 280,000 export transactions per month and only 25 per cent of 220,000 import transactions per month are now processed on the electronic system. The department has been developing the electronic system for three years with a budget of Bt300 million.

"We aim to move all 500,000 customs transactions a month to the electronic system by the end of April.

"Even though the number of export-import transactions does not directly depend on the electronic system, the new system can facilitate newcomers to the industry," said Wisudhi.

The plan is to focus on promoting the electronic services by both  increasing the number of electronic services related to customs and investigation systems and increasing the number of exporters and importers.

The electronic services cover export and import declarations, warehouse management and express consignments. To use the new services a digital signature is required by exporters and importers for use with each transaction. The department's system now accepts digital signatures issued by two main certification authorities, CAT Telecom and TOT.

Exporters and importers also have to process their transactions through the electronic gateways provided by three main paperless-procedure providers Trade Siam, Net Bay and CAT Telecom.

Wasudhi said that the beauty of the electronic system is that it increases the competitive performance of the country.

As online real-time, accurate data of all Customs transactions is available, intelligent business and risk-management systems are developed as well.

"Faster and more efficient customs services can encourage investment in the country. It reduces logistics costs and that increases competitiveness as the country seeks to become the hub of logistics in the region," said Wasudhi.

The department also plans to expand the electronic system in collaboration with other government organisations to provide electronic licences at the point of signing a contact.

Jedsada Ariyachtkul, director of the Information and Communication Technology Bureau at the Customs Department, said the department plans to launch the pilot National Single Window project with the Foreign Trade, Industrial Works, Mineral Fuels and Energy Business departments.

The project is to provide a one-stop electronic-licensing service for both exporters and importers by April.

It then plans by the end of next year to expand collaboration to include 26 government organisations which act as licence issuers.

"The move is to facilitate the electronic services as exporters and importers will no longer need to waste time obtaining paper-based licences from these issuer departments. They just apply for the licence, then leave the customs process to the departments. This will save them time and increase efficiency," said Jedsada.

Asina Pornwasin

The Nation